blitz

Without a doubt that's one possibility in many. Other possibilities: questionable (too harsh) cleaning products, getting the cleaner & dirt into the IAC motor, messing with the DO NOT TOUCH adjustments, not putting stuff back together exactly as it came apart. The throttle needs to be dealt with carefully for the same exact reasons that it needs to be kept clean in the first place: It's a precision assembly. Accumulated gunk and hack cleaning jobs both will cause it not work like it's supposed to.

All I can say is some of you need to be more careful or something. I've made it a point to clean my T/B with T/B cleaner and a toothbrush every summer as a part of normal maintenance, guess what? No problems. When I bought my '00 Impreza used, it had a re-occurring CEL. After replacing the PCV valve, cleaning the T/B with T/B cleaner and a toothbrush, removing the IAC valve and cleaning it with T/B cleaner and a toothbrush, guess what? No more CEL light ...and no "problems" either. I didn't spray cleaner at, onto, or in anything that had rubber or electronics. My intense discipline and flawless work ethic allowed me to keep the the solvent spray confined to the areas that required crud removal. Notice that I didn't tamper with the factory set adjustments? All I did was remove the accumulated crud that wasn't there when it was new (yes I did look at the T/B when my '02 was new, so I DO know what it looked like ...it was clean & shiny metal, not black & sooty). Under WOT, reverse crankcase fumes (oil mist, blowby, etc.) are re-directed through the T/B. As a result, all the byproducts of bullshyte tend to condense out of the vapors and form solids on the T/B blade and the T/B bore. It needs to be cleaned. You folks with EGR valves need to clean that system too, it gets gunked up as well.

I have no problem with defining "jumped timing" as any pulley in the system being off by as little as ONE tooth in either direction. I can't seem to find anything in the manual that indicates a two tooth negotiability in the belt installation. Thank you.

Subes rule in the snow, but until you go through a winter with a set of really good modern snows like Hakkas, etc. you haven't experienced the thrill of leaving EVERYTHING in the dust (snow dust). I've tried the "all season" route and there is absolutely no comparison, not even close. Good snow performance (safety) includes steering and stopping too and this is is where you'll find the Sube-shod-with-snows to dominate over the rolley-polley SUV's & raised macho trucks. Lastly, remember AWD lets you get stuck WAAAY deeper.

Yeah, whereas most commuters are content to debate fuel economy & air bags, I'm stuck trying to decide whether I've got an AWD literary or musical appliance.

Cherish this period. By about 50k miles when the single rattle has grown to 3 or 4, piston slap is in full bloom and the heat shields are barking a different frequency at every RPM, you'll recall fondly how noise-free the car was when new. Don't let the trained monkees at the dealer touch your car for something as benign as a rattle lest you get it back with three others on top of the same one they didn't fix. :-\ If you decide to tear into it yourself, get a factory manual first so you have reference on where all fasteners and connectors go. If you plan on keeping the car, then also get a manual for the engine and diagnostic codes. IMO, get used to all the noises. My two subes are by far the rattliest cars I've ever owned.

Prowler, WD-40 is good for chasing water out of frozen padlocks but it has almost no lubrication properties. A real penetrating oil like Liquid Wrench or PB-Blaster is what you need.

At current prices, changing at 3k is an "acceptable" rationale for covering up potential engine problems that don't exist. How could anyone NOT see that? Now triple the price of a quart and suddenly 7.5k seems like a perfectly reasonable and acceptable alternative to an extended drain (10k+). It's the same way that a lot of folks suddenly "got religion" about fuel efficiency after the hurricanes.

Dion, this is a new one to me, what's the reason for this? It seems counterintuitive. LPG is clean burning no? e.g. low carbon/soot, etc. I can tell you that the '00 2.2 has mechanical lifters (the cam acts on the screw-adjustable roller rocker arms actually, no lifters at all). Both Subes I own are mechanical and the clearance seems extremely stable.

I use the Setright method. Usually I'll turn all the lights on, blower on high, rear defrost on, illuminate the rear stop lamps, then I'll blip the throttle a little. I'll tighten maybe just a quarter turn past the point where the sqealing stops. A new belt will stretch a bit to where you might have to re-adjust after 3 days, then a third time after several weeks.

15" x 6" wheel right? '97 thru '01 OBS fits that tire onto that wheel. Shouldn't be a problem.

On my '02 OBS it goes to 50/50 in "1" & "R", but definitely not in "2". There may have been earlier models or models outside North America that did tho.

From the first part written by Guy Burnham: " One problem you can have as mentioned by others is adding detergent oil to an engine that has a huge amount of deposits in it. As the detergent softens these deposits, there is a risk of a chunk coming loose and blocking something." When was this written, 1943? The second part is authored by Ed Hackett. Ed currently drives an '03 WRX and is a member of BITOG. Here's a used oil analysis submitted by Ed himself after taking the interval out to a mind-shattering 7521 miles: http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=002453#000010 Apparently Ed doesn't think 7500 miles is excessive.

Well... an occasional low-speed blip on the e-brake just to influence the rear to move in the correct direction won't hurt anything. ...or just a light e-brake drag applied across the rear diff (with power applied), evens-out the power flow left-to-right enough to "posi" the rear of the car and get it to step off in the direction you desire. IMO, these are legit vehicle control aids on slippery winter surfaces, but like you say, definitely no typical "e-brake turns" allowed on a Sube.

HTHS = High Temperature, High Sheer viscosity. I don't recall the specific test protocol other than the oil's heated to 150*C and subjected to sheer forces (rotary viscometer?) It's a test designed to replicate conditions similar to what oil would be subject to in a main bearing under load. Some oil-heads like to think of this as the oil's real viscosity. Simply put, synthetic base stocks have an inherent multi-grade property (e.g. VI of 130 instead of 100). One desireable quality of a base stock would be a high VI. It's probably safe to assume that most decent 10W-30 syths contain no VII's. VII's can still be (and are) added to synth base stocks to end up with those really wide spreads like 0W-40, 5W-50, & even recently 0W-50! It's time you get the BITOG jones: http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi I'm hardly an oil expert but what I DO know I learned just from lurking there occasionally.

No difference except that synths require less VII to achieve a given viscosity index owing to a base stock having greater inherent VI. You're describing "non-newtonian" (non-linear) fluid characteristics - the viscosity being thicker at rest than it is when being forced or squished. As long as the HTHS is maintained above an acceptable minimum figure (there's disparity on that number), it's not as big a problem as it seems - often being used to advantage, e.g. helps get oil to the top ring. Conversely it could lead to high consumption in certain cases. A person's gotta choose the right oil for the application at hand.

I think there's a history of folks having problems with the MAF mis-reading after the stock intake (resonator) plumbing has been switched to a straight-through type. The intake drone pulses confuse the MAF causing a lean mixture condition. Search through the NASOIC forum, there's gotta be a ton of info on the problem there.

If it has 2 wires, it's the Intake Air Temp (IAT) sensor. If it has 3 wires and it's mounted onto the end of the throttle shaft it's the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS). Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP) sensor.

IMO, this sensor would be a requirement on any modern F/I system with an exhaust emissions target. Digging a little deeper, I've learned that some Subaru models have this sensor as an integral part of the ECU. Don't which ones tho.

Photo, compliments of Lawsonmh15 from his grounding mod thread of 9/05/05. The thing labeled as: "Some Type Of Air Sensor" is the atmospheric pressure sensor. To be clear, it is also referred to as the BAP by others (Ford, etc.). __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

Pretty sure your thinking of the MAF (mass air-flow) vs MAP (manifold absolute pressure) - two different types of fuel injection systems. The atmospheric pressure sensor (that's what Subaru calls it) is just for trim. It compensates for altitude by accordingly reducing the fuel in the fixed maps. It might even bump the timing up a little bit too, not sure about that tho. It's a black plastic cube about an inch on a side, most likely says Bosch or Denso on it and has a 3-pin connector. 1. +5 ref. 2. analog output. 3. ground ref. The location is the the front of the passenger shock tower. It's held to a little bracket by a single bolt.

Sometimes it's called a BAP sensor (barometric absolute pressure). My '02 has it on the passenger fender well, but I can't find it anywhere on anywhwere on my '00. Maybe there are different mounting locations depending on the year model or trans but I don't have that info.

I kinda wonder if mass exposure and bad publicity on forums like this & alt.autos.subaru hasn't had an impact. Add to that, the new independance from GM influence and possibly we have a company once again dedicated to long-term customer satisfaction rather than short-term profit margin & bad gambles. (fingers are crossed)

I've been operating under the assumption that parts & sub-assemblies (engine, trans, seats, radio, body panels, interior panels, etc.) are built in Japan, with final vehicle assembly done in Indiana, although I've never actually seen any documentation to back it up.

With the exception of severe use/towing, Subaru considers the tranny-filter to be a non-serviceable item ...which I put it in the same category as non-greasable steering/suspension & "maintenence-free" batteries. It definitely won't hurt to change it once at 60k miles. It's a bear to remove tho. Synth gear-lube is not a requirement. Redline Shockproof Lightweight in the front and Shockproof Superlight in the rear will help your fuel ecomony, especially in cold weather.